Life satisfaction of South African investors

Abstract

Life satisfaction is not always a set concept and may vary according to the demography of investors. Demographical factors can classify investors into various categories of life satisfaction, which can ultimately impact  investment decisions. The level of life satisfaction can cause a deviation between expected and actual investment choices. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether demographical factors such as age, gender, income, marital status and ethnicity influence the life satisfaction of South African investment decisions. The data were analysed using a  multinomial logistic regression. The results of the study indicated that  ethnicity and gender had no significance to a positive life satisfaction.  Investors who are older than 50 years, married or never married as well as earning more than R700 000 annually are more likely to have a positive life satisfaction and make more optimistic investment decisions. Moreover, investors with a negative life satisfaction are more likely to make pessimistic investment decisions.

Keywords: age, gender, marital status, annual income, ethnicity, satisfaction with life, investors